BISBEE — There was an underhand pitch to a pin-striped striker. A sudden crack rang in the late morning air and the ball bounced once off the dusty diamond, before landing squarely in a naked palm.
The senior first-baseman jogged the ball back, tossing it to the “hurler” at the mound. A gentle “strike three” was called out to a meager crowd and the “Yuma Aces” dugout ran onto the field. It was around 11 a.m., inside Warren Ballpark, “the oldest multisport arena in the U.S,” on the first day of the annual Copper City Classic Baseball Tournament in Bisbee.
The Copper City Classic has been celebrating the rules and vocabulary of 1800s baseball for 12 years now. The vintage style tournament, taking place annually in April, features “matches” between teams from the Arizona Vintage Baseball League.
The Arizona Vintage Baseball League has been around for 15 years, with 2022 being its first season back after a COVID hiatus.
The league returned this year, with its usual variety of vintage-style teams from all over Arizona. Teams like the Phoenix Senators, The Tucson Saguaros, The Maricopa Maidens and The Mesa Miners, played baseball with rules and vocabulary from 1863.
Some of these vocab modifications have more obvious origins than others. For example, a batter is a “striker,” shortstop is a “short scout” and a pitcher is the “hurler.” But some titles like “arbitrator” for umpire and “gardener” for outfielder rectify an artificial glimpse at skins the sport has long since shed.
“Sliding is ungentlemanly. We don’t cuss. The worst thing someone can say about your play is, ‘that was unconscionable,’” Paul “Bucky” Biwer said.
Biwer was representing The Colorado All Stars, who were up to bat next against the Phoenix Senators. They were gathered on a bench down near the dugout, decked out in blue and gold attire. A large golden star patch was sewn onto the front of their overalls.
“It’s so much fun. For the guys that are tired of playing competitive, spandex, sunglasses, one-hour hustle softball, this is more relaxed and it’s more authentic,” said Biwer.
Biwer picked up one of the vintage baseballs they were using in the game on the bench next to him, “They call that a peach pattern. For sewing,” he explained, pointing at the intricate lacing on the underside of the ball.
“You don’t need gloves. We’re bare handed. You can catch the ball in one bounce and that’s an out,” Biwer said, citing vintage rules of 1863.
The relaxed and celebratory nature of the event invoked good-spirited competition between teams and most participants just seemed happy to be involved.
“We try and come down here every year. Last year I was the only player on the team that could come and the year before that COVID interfered,” Biwer said.
The Colorado All Stars are part of the Colorado Vintage Baseball Association and traveled to Bisbee to compete against the vintage Arizona teams.
Biwer was first up to bat for the All Stars as he wagged his birch wood bat around in the early afternoon air before cracking a ball into left field, throwing the bat into the dust behind him and sprinting for first.
Beyond baseball
At around noon, a line had formed near the concessions and a couple of vendors had just finished setting up their tents.
“This is pretty much how it all started,” said Brian Carter, pointing to a 42-inch bat. “Anything kind of went back then because they really didn’t know yet.”
Carter, founder and CEO of Smacker Bats, was selling his vintage-style baseball bats at the classic. The bats ranged in colors and sizes, some sporting intricate striped patterns while others were furnished with handle knobs resembling Victorian bed posts.
“We have been doing this professionally for 12 years. These are 1800s replicas. We use poplar wood, maple wood, birch wood and hickory wood,” Carter said.
Smacker Bats is based out of Queen Creek, Arizona, and is the official bat of the Arizona Vintage Baseball League.
“The paint schemes, like for instance this one,” Carter said, turning one of the bats with three distinct stripes painted on the barrel over in his hand, “back in the 1800s maybe this meant that he had three children. It’s not just for design. Maybe he played third base. Maybe he had three home-runs.”
Carter said he consistently attends the Copper City Classic and tries to make it to every vintage event within driving range.
Next door to the Smacker Bats tent, was a blue and yellow tent with multiple large tables set up outside. A man fully adorned in Buffalo Soldier cavalry attire was standing out front with a bayonet and an orange popsicle.
The Southwest Association of Buffalo Soldiers’ presence at the tournament highlighted another significant piece of Arizona’s late 1800s history: The interesting and intensely complex existence of Black Buffalo Soldiers who were baseball players; one of whom being Jackie Robinson.
“We were invited to come down because this is a very historic place with historic events having to do with baseball, and in some cases some of the baseball players were not just baseball players, but were buffalo soldiers, as well,” said Southwest Association of Buffalo Soldiers chairman of the board, Billie Holloway Sr.
The Southwest Association of Buffalo Soldiers is a nonprofit organization established in 2015.
“They wanted us to come on down and put a lot of our memorabilia on display and answer questions about who we are and why we’re in existence: And that is to continue to tell the story about the contributions those soldiers made in settling the west,” Holloway said.
The Southwest Association of Buffalo Soldiers’ (SWABS) presence highlighted another significant piece of Arizona’s late 1800s history: The interesting and intensely complex existence of Black Buffalo Soldiers who were baseball players; one of whom being Jackie Robinson.
The SWABS table was cluttered with pre-20th century weapons of warfare; guns and swords and literature about the controversial complications of manifest destiny.
It was around 1:30 p.m. when the fourth match started: The Colorado All Stars vs. the first vintage all-women team to compete in the classic: The Maricopa Maidens.
The Maricopa Maidens, dressed in red and white uniforms harkening back to the All Girls Professional Baseball Team of the 1940s and ‘50s, were warming up behind the field an hour before the match; throwing, catching and batting while simultaneously trying to keep their small children occupied with snacks and sunscreen.
“The fact that usually you just see like one or two women on a team and to have like the first all-women team on this, we’ve been getting a lot of interest from all over. A lot of people are looking forward to this game,” said Maricopa Maiden captain Michelle “Roxy” O’connell.
The Maricopa Maidens, dressed in red and white uniforms harkening back to the All Girls Professional Baseball Team of the 1940s and ‘50s, are the first vintage all-women team to compete in the classic.
The stands were full by the start of the game and there was cheering and whistling following every play. Attendees dressed in throwback top hats and long bloomers stood still for eager photographers.
The first day of the event wrapped up at around 7:30 p.m. after all nine scheduled matches were played. All of the profits from the weekend events went into improving the Warren Ballpark.
The Friends of Warren Ballpark organization hosted the classic and hoped to introduce participants to the historical importance of the location.
The mission of the group is to promote, restore and renovate the ballpark as a functioning community asset for the Bisbee Unified School District and the community at large,” its website says.
The Copper City Classic is an annual event taking place in April in Bisbee. Learn more about the league at arizonavintagebaseball.org.
The Cleveland Indians visited Tucson for spring training each year from 1947 to 1993.
